We found a couple of Misumenops spiders endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. For the past several months, Francis Joy — better known as Jay — my spidering buddy — and I have been looking for endemic Hawaiian spiders in remote parts of the island. Photo...

I stumbled on a cute little round spider in the mesic forests of the Waiʻanae Mountains. While hiking though the Waiʻanae Kai Forest Reserve, an unusual spider web less than an inch across caught my attention. The web was on the topside of an ʻalaʻa leaf —...

We searched the native forests of Oʻahu to look for ʻakoko planthoppers, a curious-looking insect with a distinctive horn on its forehead longer than the bug itself. The Hawaiian Islands are home to 22 species of ʻakoko — Chamaesyce — 15 of which are...

For the past several months I have been hiking to the koa forests of Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island to look for Kamehameha Butterflies. Kamehameha Butterflies (Vanessa tameamea) are one of only two butterfly species endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Known as “Lepelepe...

When I heard that a population explosion of koa moths was defoliating thousands of acres of koa forests on Hawaiʻi Island I had to see for myself. The Department of Land and Natural Resources announced on February 14, 2013 that an outbreak of koa looper moths was...

I hiked in the Mokuleʻia Forest Reserve to see kāhuli or Oʻahu tree snails crawling on the native vegetation. During the night the temperature dropped to the low 60’s and rain fell intermittently on our campsite at about 2,200 feet elevation. When I got up at...